RICK WEDDLEHAMPTON ROADS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE

Rick L. Weddle joined the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance as President and CEO in April 2016. He leads the operations of a regional marketing organization that represents 11 municipalities and over 70 private sector investors in the Hampton Roads region. Prior to joining the Alliance, Rick spent five years as President and CEO of the Orlando Economic Development Commission and seven years as President and CEO of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park (RTP). Over the course of his career, Rick has helped create more than 17,000 jobs with an annual payroll of $800 million, more than $1 billion in capital investment and 5.3 million square feet of space absorbed.

In his 30 years of transformational leadership in economic development, Rick has delivered results and economic impacts in major metropolitan economies across the United States. He is the founding CEO of three startups. He has been incredibly successful in turnarounds, organization and regional rebranding, and total business model redesign efforts. He has had an overall career impact of 800+ projects, creating over 80,000 jobs and $9.1B in new investment for the localities he has served.